Last news from Turkey

Hi,

Last week we ended our trip to Istanbul by visiting the Topkapi Palace, what a fabulous building. Stunning setting looking out on the Bosporus and architecture to die for. In one of the rooms fabulous bejewelled swords and the 5th biggest diamond in the world. It makes the Alhambra in Granada look ordinary and takes second place after the Taj for me.
 
In Bergama we met a French Canadian couple Josee and Pierre and when I e mailed them they too were in Istanbul. We arranged to meet for dinner and had a lovely evening with them in Gulhane. Our meal was delicious, with wine and gorgeous Turkish rice pudding for dessert.  Sunday we did a Bosporus cruise seeing the beautiful riverside palaces, one of which is now the Four Seasons. Rooms start at 540 euros and a suite is a mere 6,000 and those prices don't include breakfast!!

Monday we had a pretty good travel day, we left the hotel about 9am and got our flight to Dalaman. The shuttle bus to Fethiye was waiting and we hardly had time even for a loo break before the bus left for Kas and a quick taxi ride and we were in our place in Kas. 

Kas is our final destination and we have ten days here in all, just to chill. Kaş, once an unspoiled fishing village, is now a relatively unspoiled tourist town on the southern bulge of Turkey's Mediterranean coast. We came here for the diving and Chris has already done a day and a half of diving. 

Tomorrow we have a scooter to have a look around and find a beach. Sunday we have hired a kayak to just have a look from the sea, there are organised trips but we can go at our own pace. Monday we are going on a boat trip to see the sunken remains at Kekova and Tuesday we have a car and will go up to Gombe in the mountains, where it might be a bit cooler. The temperatures are hotting up, pretty consistent mid thirties. My dream of a place with a pool haven't materialised as most of these  are way out of our budget.

Interestingly we have met two people this week with Newcastle connections ;a woman called Susan who went to Gosforth Grammar School about the same time as Chris and then her family moved to Wales . Last night we met an elderly couple camper vanning in Turkey and he lived near Newcastle General Hospital as a child and then moved to Brighton. 

We get back about 1am Friday 27th June and originally we had four days turnround till our house sitting assignment in Allendale. This is now off as their trip is cancelled due to illness. I want to go up to the north east corner of Scotland in Henry so we may set off earlier than planned. There is also the option for a helpx near Edinburgh. 

The annual pilgrimage to the Fringe is all booked for 15th-17th August, and there is great excitement as one of our faves is back "Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens" if you want a taste then try

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaxZ1FQgqc

for the famous "Glitter Boots saved my Life""

We will be house sitting in Cork in September and we have booked a ferry from Cairnryan to Larne and we will visit sights in Northern Ireland and make our way to Cork. Then we will be visiting Northern Spain, the Picos de Europa and maybe make it to San Sebastien before heading to Casas Nuevas in October. Imogen is coming out for a week and it will be good to show her the delights of Murcia.

I was just thinking this morning about this trip to Turkey and my reflections are:-

• It has some stunning scenery and coastlines
• The food is good and simple fare with fabulous flavours
• The people are generally helpful and friendly
• Its history is amazing and influenced by its position in Europe and Asia
• Problems on its borders are causing real pressure with refugees from Syria and now Iraq
• Travel is easy and the public transport is much more extensive than the UK

• 52% of men smoke and it seems culturally acceptable to continue smoking whilst dealing with customers in shops etc and it spoils both the look of restaurants cafes etc and the enjoyment of food 

• Attention to detail is not their forte, especially on the cleaning front

It is well worth another visit and to see the Black Sea areas and the east we would probably use the camper.

Will keep you posted over the next few months

Norma xx

Acropolis Bergama

Medusa at Bergama

Eyup indeed !!

The highs and lows of Istanbul

Hi all,

When I last wrote we were headed for the Gallipoli battlefields. We got a bus and ferry to Eceabat but didn't get to do the battlefields as Chris' illness was worse. So we spent overnight in the town, had a passable meal of meze and whitebait and headed off in the morning for Istanbul. The Rough Guide to Turkey described Eceabat as " a scruffy little place" , they were being kind!!

The bus to Istanbul was a comfy coach with air conditioning and a little bus boy dishing our drinks and snacks with a 20 minute stop for lunch. We arrived at Essenler bus station in Istanbul which was the size of a small Turkish town. We had been promised a shuttle into the old part of town Sultanahmet and were meant to be dropped off at the nearest tram station. The driver mumbled something at various points and it was only when I realised were were approaching a river crossing that he had forgotten to drop us off. 

Tired after a long bus journey the last thing we needed was navigating a city as big as Istanbul. Easy, lets just get a taxi.........hah the taxi drivers have no desire to take us to our hotel First he tried the old chestnut. Oh that one is full-yeh we have a reservation........drive on........he was lost and in the end I just lost my cool and got him to stop paid him the 20lira on the meter and took our bags to have a cold drink. We then wandered around following the wrong directions till a man offered to take us-for money of course. As we were soon to find Istanbul is on a par with Marrakech, Cusco, New Delhi , full of hustlers and con men masquerading as helpful people. 

A film being shot just down from our hotel

We are on the third floor of the "hotel" with a view of the Bosphorus, across the rooftops. I have put hotel in speech-marks as it clearly doesn't live up to the name. Prices in the city are, of course, higher than anywhere else and this is about double our cheapest place in Turkey. The room is okay but wasn't particularly clean ( attention to detail is not a feature of the Turks) and the bathroom was passably clean. 

On the positive side it is about 10 minutes walk to the Blue Mosque one of the landmark features of Istanbul, they sell a cold beer for only 7TL, there is wifi and it works in the room and the bathroom is a decent size and the shower is good. The negative aspects well where do I start?? The family who run this place have little in the way of interaction with the guests, the daughter who does breakfast is so surly, she looks like she is chewing on a wasp  -she struggles even to say Good Morning in Turkish. I eventually bought wipes and bleach and cleaned the bathroom and the window ledges have not been dusted in months!! All of this cleaning was necessary as Chris had an infection which has needed antibiotics. 

There is a mosque right outside the window and I quite enjoy the different calls to prayer, but it is loud and the first one is about 4.15!! Thank heavens for silicone ear plugs as yet again we had Korean neighbours who think nothing of making loud skype calls at 6am.

After the hassle of the taxi etc we just went down one block and ate in a Lokanta, a traditional Turkish cafe where a number of different dishes are made each day. The food was tasty and cheap I had stuffed aubergines, one of my favourites.

Tuesday we set off in a taxi to the American Hospital and Chris saw a dermatologist for 300TL ( thank heavens for travel insurance) and he was prescribed antibiotics and a bacterial cream. The hospital is private, very efficient, very clean and as we left the consultation we were given his card, in case we needed to ring on his mobile or text him for advice!! Follow up was arranged for Friday 13th. 

We had pretty much a lazy day although I did visit the Blue Mosque in the early evening and it is stupendous. Chris needed a rest as he had had a couple of disturbed nights.

The famous Blue Mosque

Wednesday I left Chris to rest and I went to Hagia Sophia, it is now a museum but has been a mosque and church. I got the audio guide and enjoyed the time exploring at my own pace. However my tolerance for tour groups is wearing thin after four weeks in Turkey, and these reflections may make me sound racist but no offence intended.

If you are from Asia then you belong to a group that want to rush around taking pictures as quickly as possible before you race to the next place on your tour of Europe. If you are from Russia you must be in full make up, designer gear and jewellery and ignore the fact that you may cause offence by your dress (or lack of it) or behaviour. If you are German you are clearly hard of hearing, all of the tour guides feel the need to explain everything at full volume. Generally your job in one of these groups is also to monopolise the space, as if you have paid more for your entry than anyone else!! 

Next on my list of hates are the people who endlessly hassle you, eat here, shop here, buy this buy that. I nearly lost it with one guy who was hassling us outside the cistern when he said all English people are rude !!

Ferry on the Bosphorus

In the aftrenoon we had a little tootle on a ferry across the Bosphorus and it is very refreshing and good to see the sights from the water. After dinner we walked uphill and wandered around near the Sultanhamet tram station just looking at some of the crazy prices, Gozleme at 19TL is four times what you pay elsewhere and a cup of coffee is UK prices. The Turks drink loads of tea and it is 50 korus 1/2lira-we have seen it for 5!! So we set off back downhill for an early night.

It was not to be because, as we were walking back we were about five minutes away from the hotel when someone came running behind me and grabbed my bag, which is was foolishly carrying over one shoulder!! As we were on a hill I was pulled along and eventually fell and let go of the bag, it was a horrible sensation careering downhill, on cobblestones not able to stop.I was not consciously trying to hold on as I know it is best not to out up a fight.  I landed on my right knee and got myself back up and some local hotel staff helped me to a chair. It all happened so quickly and Chris went running after him and I could not see where they had gone. After a few minutes a young English lad from Leeds came and said they had caught him and Chris was "restraining " him till the police arrived. I just went onto autopilot and got someone to get me a cloth and ice and washed my knee, elevated it and applied ice while I waited for the police.

About 15 minutes later this grubby white van arrived and three guys got out and said, we are the police get in the van and come to the police station. I refuse to get in till Chris arrived, and another van had arrived and had taken the thief away and Chris came up the hill and we went off together. Now Chris is an ex copper and we have all seen enough cop shows and films to know how the police behave.

Not in Turkey, it was absolute chaos, most of them were plain clothes, all carrying guns, some just tucked down their trousers,smoking, shouting and if there was someone in charge he was not in control. Thankfully a nice young Turkish hotel worker came with us to translate and even though I don't know his name I will be eternally grateful to him. Eventually it transpired that because I was injured they needed a medical report , which in the UK would be done by the police doctor at the station. 

Not in Turkey, back in the white van as we career along the tram way, including overtaking, to the public hospital, we arrive and they just shout our Police and drive almost into what might have been A&E. This was neither ER or Casualty!! There was just a mass of humanity, on chairs on trolleys etc and I was put in a room while a guy -nurse, doctor, porter who knows- looked at my injuries and completed a report. Although I hadn't banged my head he did check to make sure I had no signs of concussion.

Next off to another part downstairs to get my knee sorted( I was quite happy to leave it till I got back to the hotel as I had already cleaned it.) What I really needed was to sit down but we hovered in the corridor while the policemen hassled the staff to treat me!!None of the doors were closed, no privacy at all.

I was ushered into a room as one patient was leaving, he had been repaired but his blood was still on the trolley. I sat on a couch, no cleaning, no bed roll and watched as the healthcare professional put on a clean pair of gloves, got some betadine, wiped my knee , put on a gauze dressing and a huge micropore dressing without saying a word. No business card from him!!

Back in the van, more scary driving, more smoking and time to make a satement. Eventually a statement was typed which I signed, although I really had no idea what it said and I had to insist there was no fabrication. Then into another room to do the crime report and eventually nearly four hours later I got a taxi back to the hotel as Chris finished his witness statement. No statements were taken from the people who stopped the thief!! Anyway he would have appeared in court next morning and I just wanted to get to bed. Looking back it was like something out of a Brain Rix farce but played out in Turkish with lots of smoking and shouting.

Thursday we went to visit the famous cistern that used to supply the water to the city. Built over 1,000 years ago and weren't those Romans clever. Lovely tranquil place to go. Then we got ourselves an Istanbulkart, for travel on ferries, buses and trams etc. We went off to Eyup which was mobbed with local families on a day out, later we read in our guide book that it is a major place of pilgrimage for Islamists. I tried not to walk too far and my knee is okay, stairs are not easy and I have various other aches and pains but they are easing.

Today, Friday, we went back to see the dermatologist , Chris' problem is resolving and he was sorry to hear about my troubles. He wanted to  look at my knee as the dressing was yellow but I had to explain it wasn't oozing pus but the Inadine dressing was yellow. It is clean and I have plenty of stuff in my medical kit to dress it myself.

Then we went off to the Grand Bazaar, where you can buy almost anything you want but get hassled to death. Great experience but I didn't buy anything as I'm not quite firing on all cylinders. We had doner kebabs for lunch , lovely and tasty and then back to rest my knee.

Tomorrow we plan to go to the Topkapi Palace and it will be a long day and from what I have read it sounds grand and well worth most of the day. It opens at 9 and we are about 15 minutes walk away. Then Sunday we will have our breakfast out and maybe visit the spice market as we have a flight on Monday. A week is only really enough to scratch the surface and we have lost days with our problems. Maybe Istanbul needs another visit.

Monday we head back down south, flying to Dalaman and then by bus to Kas. We just have ten days till we fly home and plan just to chill by the pool, Chris wants to dive and have a bit of a relax.

Bye 

Norma xx

Hair removal Turkish style!!

Istanbul tomorrow!!

Hello,

We enjoyed the rest of our time in Bergama and our visit to the Acropolis was good, there is a cable car to the top and the weather was a bit grey and overcast -excellent for sightseeing.I knew this was the last of our trips to ancient Roman ruins as our next culture will be Ottoman in Istanbul!! The Temple of Athena was based on the Acropolis. Bergama was also the place where parchment was developed which resulted in the concept of books rather than rolled papyrus.

After our trek in the morning we spent the early evening at the Hammam, this was my first visit ever and I wasn't sure what to expect. Usually when you hear the word baths you imagine something to soak in? For those of you who have been you will know this is not the case, you just sit in either the cold or the hot room on marble slabs and pour dishfulls of water over yourself. There are separate baths for men and women and I imagined a place of quiet and solitude NOT! There was a family group with children , shouting and screaming and four girls in their early twenties celebrating the engagement of one of them, as they danced and sang together. 

When my turn came I was staggered at how much dead skin was rubbed off by that sandpaper mitt but felt wonderful and clean afterwards.We opted to try the hammam in Bergama as at the beach there were new purpose built places aimed at tourists and Istanbul will be busy. In sleepy little Bergama it was just the locals in a building from 1550!!

Next day we set off for Ayvalik for a couple of days beside the sea, no ruins , no history just the Aegean sea. The bus took us to an out of town bus station and then a dolmus into town. For once on this trip we hadn't booked accommodation in advance, we are out of season!! I left Chris in a coffee shop and went in search of a place. The prices varied from 130TL to 60 TL (3.5 =£1) and so did the quality. In the end I opted for the Kaptan Hotel for 90TL where we have the end room with 4 floor to ceiling to floor old windows and a door out to our balcony with a view to die for. Breakfast is excellent and we have been very pleased with our little side trip.

This part of Turkey is quite close to Greek islands so we had the crazy idea of a day trip to Lesbos, 90 minutes away by ferry. We didn't really have any plans for when we got there so we ended up hiring a 150cc motorbike and spent a few hours tootling along the coast eventually finding a restaurant for lunch. It was a little hamlet on a bend on a road with a view of the sea. Lunch was aubergine and tomato and courgettes stuffed with rice and mint (the latter was fabulous) then I had small fish and Chris had pork ( thank heavens for the Christians!!). Both of the main courses came with one lettuce leaf and then we had very sticky , very rich and very yummy Greek baklava and coffee and in honour of being in Greece I had an ouzo. The bill was 47 euros which is a staggering 135 lira, nearly half our daily budget!! The setting was lovely but it was not good value and its 10 years since my last visit to Greece and at these prices (3euro for an espresso) it won't be on my list soon!! We got back to Turkey pretty shatterred after our international jetsetting!!

Yesterday we opted for a quiet day so took the little shared taxi across to Cunda island, it is linked by road to Ayvalik. Fairly nice harbour front, but we didn't stay long, we had a tea and watched the coastguard boat with illegal immigrants on board. Then we got the ferry back which was a lovely half hour trip across the bay. Chris is not feeling too good having developed a bit of man trouble which has him walking like John Wayne!! We had a  nice meal last night right on the waters edge and then sat on the balcony enjoying the view.

Today we are off on the bus to Cannakale, then across on the ferry to Eceabat to hopefully

The walkway from the sleeping rooms to treatment rooms in one of the earliest examples of a psychiatric hospital

Acropolis-Bergama

Aegean at night

Lunchtime on our day trip to Greece

visit Gallipoli , if Chris is better. If not we will head straight up to Istanbul tomorrow morning , to hopefully the highlight of the trip.........

Till next time

Norma xx

From one ancient site to the next

Hello everyone,

Our second visit from Pamukkale was to Aphrodisias, a 90 minute drive and it was an absolutely fabulous experience. No bikini clad Russians just fabulous Roman remains, an an amazing example of a stadium. It was completely intact and had seats for 30,000. My picture didn't seem to do it justice but I've just looked on line and they aren't much better.

The gladiator pit

It was incredibly hot and dry but there was plenty of shade from the trees. At the end we visited the museum which gave an insight into how ornate it might have been.

Theatre at Aphrodisias

We then left Pamukkale by train, we booked a taxi and thought we would be taken to Denizli station but we were dropped at Goncali. Our taxi driver sorted a ticket and we had 45 minutes till the train. I spotted a place with tables so we left our bags and walked over the lines to quite a large restaurant. No-one spoke English so using our little bit of Turkish we got a bottle of water , Su, and two freshly made kofte sandwiches. Lunch sorted. The train took about 3 hours and then we were in Selcuk.

Selcuk had a nice feel to it, it is the town nearest to Ephesus but not as well used a base as Kusadasi on the coast. In fact huge numbers of the visitors are people on cruise ships docked in Kusadasi. Selcuk had a nice feel to it and we stayed in Artemis hotel. So far we have been at least three floors up and this time it was four......excellent exercise!! The owner Tom assured us we could "do" most of Selcuk in one day and then one day at Efes (the Turkish name for Ephesus). We later realised that is what most people do, huge numbers of Chinese, Koreans and Japanese tourists on a mission to "do" Europe in as little time as possible.

On our first day we visited the church of St John the Apostle, Selcuk castle and the mosque. The church was originally enormous but little remains, although it is where John was buried. Our next plan was to go to Sirince, a little hillside village to enjoy the view and have a leisurely lunch. It was not to be as the village was full of souvenir shops hiding the beautiful village houses. We did however have Gozleme for lunch in a little family place. Definitely not aimed at the tourists as it had a squat toilet!!

Our Gozleme chef !!

When we got back to town the weekly market was on and the place was full of vegetable and fruit stalls selling fabulous produce, it is when you see this that a self catering option looks attractive. 

Our evening meal was really good, we found a little place with seats outside, with local people and had salad and spicy kebabs with flatbead, fresh, beautifully cooked and remarkably cheap!!

Next day we had breakfast at eight and got a taxi to Ephesus, which was already mobbed, it was very hot and busy. We did manage to do it at our own pace, we hired an audio guide and also visited the terrace houses which are mainly avoided by the big groups. It was truly stunning and the audio guide was excellent, it does allow you to absorb what you are seeing.

Bored tour group

Ephesus

We did a little bit of retail therapy and Chris bought me a beautiful necklace, made of Zultanite, a gemstone from Turkey that changes colour with the light. I love it and I went back another day and bought earrings to match. he also looked at carpet but that is another story for later!!

That evening we made a mistake with our  choice of restaurant, Tom in our hotel had said it was the best food in Selcuk and it had pretty good reviews on Trip Advisor ( not very reliable in Turkey as there is lots of encouragement to write good reviews!!). The setting was great, under the viaduct with a fountain by the side. We were served complimentary soup but our meze starter was pretty average and then we waited 30-40 minutes for our main courses. When they came they were tasty enough and very nicely presented. We decided against dessert and coffee and when the owner brought the bill with a flourish of the hand wipes it emphasised the whole ethos of the place. There is a lovely Geordie expression "fur coat and nae knickers", which sums the place up. So for dessert we went to a cake shop with one table outside and had lovely rice pudding.

With the effects of Ephesus from the previous day we had a later breakfast and I wanted to see the Temple of Artemis, it is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There is not much left, the column below makes a lovely nest for the storks. It was a nice little walk out of town and there was a small pond with loads of terrapins.

Artemis temple-well what is left

On the way back we wandered into a carpet shop and Chris succumbed to one of his passions in life buying lovely carpets. His house in Spain has tiled floors and he has already got examples from Turkey, Morocco and Persia. I must admit it was beautiful but you never know whether you are being ripped off or not. It is being shipped to the UK so it will be there in 6-8 weeks. 

On our last night we went to a family run place and had gorgeous meze and Chris had liver, bought by the owner's wife from the butchers, and I had chicken kebab.

Chris and his 7 year old best buddy Mehmet

We left Selcuk on our journey north and got a little minibus to Izmir, one hour away and then a second one to Bergama and we got dropped right outside where we are staying. We are in Gobi pension a family run little place on the edge of town. It is spotlessly clean and our room is spacious. Bergama is ancient Pergamon and has a history at the beginnings of medicine.

We visited the Asclepsion today and tomorrow will see the Acropolis. It is the least touristy place we have visited and has a nice feel. Today we had a lunch of local food , meat and vegetable stews with rice all for 10TL , about £3. 

At breakfast this morning we met a couple from Canada who could have been our mirror images, retired early with public sector pensions, a yen to travel and a recently purchased camper van. We made an instant connection and talked to them about the possibilities and opportunities that house sitting can offer.

For me the anticipation of seeing Istanbul is mounting, I'm just about "ruined" out and am looking forward to an entirely different vibe and style of architecture. Then our last week will be back on the Turquoise coast .

So till next time, hope you still enjoy reading about our travels.
Take care

Norma x